The present invention relates to an apparatus for the manufacture of plastic parts from thermoplastic, thermoset and/or elastomer material by injection molding or reaction injection molding. Such apparatus includes a multi-station locking unit of horizontal or vertical configuration designed to hold a number of molds and an associated injection unit for the simultaneous injection of the molds. The apparatus further includes a movable center mold clamping plate sectioned crosswise relative to the locking direction, the two parts being kept together by a high-speed clamping device, and a melt conduction system arranged between the two parts. The melt conduction system has one or a number of melt conduction rails, each of which is rigidly clamped at its face side between the sectioned mold clamping plate lengthwise relative to the direction of flow of the melt, and a median centering collar and a widened melt inlet with rounded side walls designed to receive the nozzle system arranged on a flange of each melt conduction rail.
The injection molding machine described above is disclosed in my earlier filed application U.S. Ser. No. 865,197 and in my application filed contemporaneously herewith, U.S. Ser. No. 909,836 the disclosures of which are herein incorporated by reference.
The arrangement of one or a number of separate melt conduction rails between the parts of the center mold clamping plate which is sectioned lengthwise relative to the locking direction assures rapid and uniform injection of both molds with any shape of the mold. This design of the center mold clamping plate requires consideration of an appropriate design for the cut-off nozzle system.